Labour MP for the Llanelli constituency

Nia speaks up on the Wales Bill

Speaking up on the Wales Bill on the Sunday Politics Show, Nia Griffith MP said:

“I very much welcome the powers that this Bill gives to the Welsh Government to borrow money for infrastructure projects. It was anomalous that they could not borrow, and now they will be able to make investments for example in road improvements which will help develop the economy in Wales.

On the issue of devolving income tax, before moving to a referendum on income tax, it is absolutely vital that the issue of getting fair funding for Wales is sorted out. Ed Miliband has pledged that a future Labour Government would look at the specific problem of funding for Wales. Then, we would also need a proper assessment of the effects of income tax devolution to ensure that Wales would not be disadvantaged before going forward with a referendum.

What I think was a missed opportunity with this bill was that it did not introduce the “reserved” powers model of powers which means that you define clearly what powers stay with Westminster and the Welsh Assembly can then legislate on all other areas. This model would be a lot clearer, and would save thousands of pounds of public money which has currently been wasted by the Tory UK Government repeatedly challenging the Welsh Government’s powersin the supreme court”